


More Than a Victim

by FuryFire



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Androids, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Detectives, Doctor - Freeform, F/F, F/M, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Human Experiments, Human Trafficking, Insecurity, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Second Person, Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), Violent Thoughts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:08:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 22
Words: 21,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23744326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FuryFire/pseuds/FuryFire
Summary: Connor works hard at being a detective. it is what he does best, and he enjoys it. After a boring day, he gets a call about a new case and finds you. Suddenly the two of you are thrust into each other's lives, and you couldn't see it any other way. Working through your recovery, you help him on his own as well.Problem is, a virus is running rampant in the android community, and you only have so much time to fix it before they all lose themselves to it. Connor is working hard at catching a ring of human traffickers and modders and doesn't realize the danger that comes with it.Where will the two of you end up?
Relationships: Connor/Reader, Connor|RK800/Reader, Echo | Blue-Haired Traci & Kara, Hank Anderson & Connor, Kara & Alice Williams (Detroit: Become Human), Kara/Luther (Detroit: Become Human), Markus/Simon (Detroit: Become Human), RK800/Reader
Comments: 11
Kudos: 91





	1. Bored

**Author's Note:**

> ohhhh hey there! I suck at updates, but this quarantine got me into DBH so here we are. I'll update as best I can. Hopefully, this is okay.

Your heartbeat thudded loudly in your ears. It was a constant drum that drowned out the eerie silence you had grown accustomed to over the last several weeks. You think it’s been weeks, as you had what felt like a regular schedule of meals, but then again you haven’t seen the sun in a long time. It could have been much longer. 

You can’t remember the exact events that led up to you being chained down in the basement turned laboratory. You remember needing some groceries for the next day. You had a graduation party to attend. You were going to bring homemade nachos and the cupcakes that you were so good at decorating. You were excited to have finally become a physician, earning that sweet little ‘Dr’ before your name. You had been on the way to the store, walking on foot because it wasn’t too far from your little apartment. Someone had called to you from the alley, and you were concerned immediately. You knew the homeless population always had trouble during the winter months, and you wanted to make sure that whoever it was, was ok. Unfortunately, your naivety got you in trouble. You can’t remember what he did, but you had woken up in your little cell, dressed in a hospital gown, and chained to the back wall. A small tattoo with your initials and a scrawl of numbers after.

You wince, thinking about it. Your hand goes to rub the little mark on your wrist, written horizontally. You want to cry, but it’s been a while since you had last eaten, and you don’t want to get dehydrated. 

When you had first woken up, there were others. An android on the far side of the rooms, banging her fists against the bars. She screamed so much, that one day, he took her upstairs, and never brought her back up. The other human had stopped screaming after that, and you followed soon. The other human, a taller woman, had spoken to you in the darkness after he had left you your meals. Her voice was soft, and so many times you had wanted to reach out to her, and hug her. However, you were forever kept apart. Especially after a new man came down and took her up with him. You had cried that night.

You haven’t eaten in a long time, and it concerns you greatly. Your stomach had long since stopped growling at you to eat. You wince and rub down at your foot. You go to stretch your legs out, and your right foot scrapes against a rough edge of the rock that made up the walls and floor of your cell. You cry out. You’ve cut it open pretty badly. You flinch as you take it in your hands softly and press down on it with the little bit of your gown that drapes down long enough. It’s uncomfortable and stings quite a bit, but the bleeding would soon stop.

But then the lights go out completely. 

  
  


Connor shifted slightly at his desk, trying to keep himself busy. It had been a pretty calm day, but he had already finished all of his reports from their finished cases. He and Hank had been kept on cases involving androids, but they were back to just investigating homicides. Connor was no longer put in any position to worry, about what they once called ‘Deviants’. Now they were just Androids, just people. Connor sighed again, taking his coin from his back pocket, He goes to flip it, but he can see the small glare that Hank offers him from through his gray bangs. Connor sighed audibly once more, slouching forward. He needed something to do.

Connor has had trouble in the past year or so. He was constantly working and had little time to himself. When he wasn’t working, he was offering his meager help to Jericho. He had a rocky relationship with a few of them, especially North, who had made it clear from the get-go that she didn’t like him. Simon had merely smiled at him, and patted his shoulder softly, exclaiming, “She’s like that with everyone but Markus, don’t worry too hard,” but Connor knew better. She just didn’t like him. 

Connor thumped his head against the table exasperatedly. He has never felt, bored before, and he certainly doesn’t like it.

“Connor, if you sigh one more fucking time, I’m gonna make you talk to Gavin about his latest ‘score’,” Hank growled from the other desk. Connor smiled up at him sheepishly. He hadn’t meant to be annoying, as bored as he was. 

“Please don’t Hank, he’s awful.”Connor didn’t often say that about people, but Gavin Reed, the office asshole, definitely deserved it. 

“Then shut up.” Hank was busy tapping away at his terminal, not bothering to look up at the sad-puppy expression that Connor was making. 

Connor pulled himself out of the chair stoically. If there was nothing to do, he would find something to do. With his new mission set for himself, he made his way to the staff room, taking a look around to see if there was anything he could fix or clean. Connor found that the kitchen counters and the microwave were perfectly clean. Someone must have cleaned up earlier, and he hadn’t felt so annoyed with someone he didn’t know until that moment. He frowned slightly, his eyebrows furrowing a bit. Then, as if his day couldn’t be more annoying, a whiny voice that could only belong to one person in the office, called out to him.

“Hey, Tin Can!” Gavin called out. He had his arms crossed and his mouth was twisted into a snarl. He was still pissed off that Connor was asked to stay with the DPD despite his tampering with evidence back a year ago. Connor was overjoyed, but Gavin took it as a personal insult. “The fuck you doing?” 

Connor turned a bit, just so that his face was towards the smaller man, and smiled slightly. “Ah, if it isn’t the least qualified officer at the DPD, what can I do for you?” Connor had let himself speak his thoughts more lately, and it showed to be quite aggressive when it came to suspects and people like Gavin. Hank laughed every single time, but it still felt odd to Connor. He wasn’t used to these kinds of thoughts and feelings yet. 

Gavin growled and uncrossed his arms at the remark. His hand was now thrust forward as he pointed at Connor’s chest. “Didn’t I tell you last time to fuck off? You don’t get to talk to me like that.”

Connor smiled sweetly, his face throwing it off balance as he spoke again. “If you weren’t aware, Androids are free to do what they please within the limits of the law, and nowhere does it say I can’t tell you the truth, Reed.” His head cocked, and his smile dropped. He frowned down at the shorter officer. “I wasn’t doing anything, so I would appreciate it if you left me-” He abruptly stopped talking, throwing Gavin for a loop as he watches Connor’s LED spin yellow for a moment. 

“Excuse me Detective Reed, but I have an assignment now.” Connor spun on his heel and walked out of the room. He walks up to Hank’s desk swiftly.

“We have work,” He says, just as Hank looks up at him, his hair pooling back a bit to show off his aging face. “A murder involving an android and two humans. I have the address and we are set to go when you’re ready.” He was always formal when giving information, but that was just a piece of him that seemed to stick through despite his freedom. It was interesting, but it got the job done faster. 

Hank nodded, huffing as he pushed his chair back and stood. He grabbed his keys and followed the android, who was already making his way to the elevator.

  
  


You shivered in the cold. It had been far too long since you had eaten, and you could feel your body eating itself. You were exhausted, sleeping most times, and crying dry. You were thirsty, and the small drips of water that drenched the wall on some nights were not enough to sustain you for much longer. You were going to die in this hell-hole, and there was nothing you could do about it.

Footsteps in the house above caused you to stop your inner monologue. There was someone home. Then there were more footsteps. There were multiple people! Your heart soared and suddenly you felt as if you might have a chance. You tried to yell, but your voice came out as a croak. You rubbed your throat softly and began to try and work your voice out softly. You would have to work up to a scream but hopefully, you could do it before they left. 

  
  


Connor took the scene in rather quickly. He was glad to be doing something, but he did his best to be careful in his analysis. There was blood, drenched all over the couch and floor in front of it. The body, a taller man with a thick build, laid half decomposing on it. The house apparently smelled awful, as Hank had cried out halfway through the entryway. The man, a Thomas Shellville, had died twelve days prior, and had been stabbed in the throat twice, and bludgeoned over the head with what Connor believed to be the trophy. 

“Lieutenant, I believe I have figured out what happened,” Connor said as he moved away from the trophy he had been inspecting. The perpetrator was invited in, as there are no signs of forced entry, and there are two drinks set up on the table here. I believe there were two people here, but I think only one was involved. Neither of the weapons used on the man has fingerprints, and no smudging or fibers left over. Therefore, I believe it was an android that committed this crime.” Connor shifted about for a moment before coming to Hank’s side. The other person with the android must have fled. This is likely the person who sent us the info and we have yet to question. The android hit Thomas upon the head three times with the trophy, threw it behind them, and then quickly stabbed him in the throat quickly. The knife is not ere, so I think the android brought it with them.”

Hank nodded, taking his chin in his hand, scratching his beard. “It makes sense,” he starts, “but why?” Connor merely shrugs, taking another sweep of the house.

He is searching through the closet when he hears it. A scream. It is so quiet that he thinks he hasn’t head anything at all, but he turns up his sensors a bit, and he hears it louder. He whips around and dashes towards Hank. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Hank asks inquisitively and goes quiet. Connor holds up his hand. It happened again and he lit up. 

“Right there. There’s someone else in the house. Search for a basement door of some kind.” Connor takes off to where he first heard the sound. He rummages around in the closet, trying to find some kind of hatch or small door. He finds nothing. He growls to himself and turns to the next room. That’s when Hank calls out to him from the dining room. 

“Here kid found what you were looking for. Fucking bitch to find too.” Hank is prying open a door that had been hidden behind a water cooler stood on a smaller table. The door is small but big enough for a person to crawl through. Connor drops to his knees, gun at the ready.

Whoever was there, better be ready.


	2. Help

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor finds you and helps you out, as much as he can.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter, sorry!

The shuffle of feet near the entrance surprised you, so much that you yelped a bit. You sat up straighter, doing your best to not look so weak. You had had enough trouble as it was, and you didn’t want the pity of whoever had found you. If it was someone new, that is. If it was him, you would go back to feeling like you were dying. No reason to fake it in front of someone who had made you scream on multiple occasions.

The door opened, and you heard their footsteps descend down the stairs. A small beam of light flitted through, and you could see the outline of a man. He was tall and disappeared from view after he stepped out into the shadows of the dark basement.

“Hello,” you croaked out. Who was this person? If it was him, he’d already been talking to you, but this man was silent as could be when walking down the stairs. 

“Hello? Are you able to move from your place?” His voice was kind and soft as he called out to you. In the darkness, you could see the small LED light up a pale yellow. An android then, what was he doing here? 

“No, I’m stuck in the cage at the back. Do you think you can open it?” It was then that the room was lit up a bit. A second man descended down the stairs, flashlight in his hand. He was older than you by quite a bit, scruffy hair and beard a light grey. The android in front of you was younger-looking, with soft brown hair and pale skin. You couldn’t see him very well, the backlight making it hard to discern his features, but he looked worried. 

“I’m going to open the door now, sit still, and we’ll get you out soon.” His voice was still soft, and he got to work on the door. His hand rested on the bio-lock, and the skin on his hand peeled back, revealing his plastic skeleton. He glowed a soft blue, and you heard the door give a soft click. He stepped back a bit to open the door all the way. He then crouched down, approaching you slowly. You were shivering now, your body shaking at the fear and need to be free again. 

“Can you stand?” His hand was offered out to you now and he seemed ready for you to take it and stand up, but you merely shook your head.

“Chained up.” It was all that you could muster out. You were growing rapidly exhausted again, and you weren’t sure if you could make it much longer. 

The other man had made it up behind the android, and he swore roughly under his breath. “Who the fuck does this to a little kid?” You might be ridiculously short, but you weren’t a kid. You groaned in your head, but you said nothing, wanting more to get out than berate a stranger. “I gotta call this in. They’re gonna need an ambulance.” The older man turned around and pulled out his phone.

The android was then gently lifting the very end of your gown, taking a look at the chains wrapped around your ankles. “I don’t currently have the tools to remove you from these, so we’re going to have to wait till everyone else arrives, are you okay with this?” You nodded, barely noticeable, but he nodded in return. “Can you answer some questions while we wait?” 

You frowned slightly. How are you meant to stay awake? You nodded a yes anyway. 

“Good. Do you know the date you were taken?” You reply softly, and his LED blinks yellow for a moment before turning blue. “Do you know who brought you here by any chance?” You shook your head, you could only recognize his face. He frowned slightly. “When was the last time you have eaten?” There was a pause as you thought.

You shrugged, “I don’t know, it’s been a while since anyone has come down here.” The android nodded again in understanding. “The man who is the owner of the house has been dead for nearly twelve days, and it seems as if no one else has been here.” 

You winced, hard. That is quite a while that you’ve gone without a steady supply of food or water. Thank goodness for the poor build of the basement. You pulled your arms around you, trying to calm yourself down somewhat. The news, despite having already lived through it, unnerved you even more. You were so close to dying, the fact you hadn’t died of dehydration was lucky enough, but any longer and you would have died. Your heart stuttered and you shivered in the cold.

The android seemed to notice, and he removed his jacket and placed it on your shoulders. “It is the least I can do for the moment. I don’t have anything small to remove the chains, so this will have to do for now.”

  
  
  


Connor was worried. It wasn’t often that he was this worried, but it was clear that you were starving. He had never seen a human so absolutely weak and exhausted. Hank had looked much better than this, even at his worst. He could see your frail body shivering, even with his heavy jacket on your shoulders. He frowned a bit, scanning your form for the fifth time since he first spotted you. It was quite dark, but luckily for him, he could see just fine. Your temperature was low for a human, but not quite at risk of hypothermia. Your body fat ratio had dropped significantly, and he knew Hank would have joked that you were just a bag of bones, as he had once called Connor jokingly, if the situation weren’t so dire. You were definitely at risk of severe dehydration, so hopefully, the paramedics would arrive soon. 

Connor turned to look up to the staircase, where Hank stood, ready to call everyone over. He had been kind to him this past year, and Connor hoped that he would be kind to you as well. Hank suddenly perked up and hollered out.

“Over here!” His voice was gruff and urgent. 

Connor dropped his shoulders, feeling a lot less tense now that help had arrived. He turned to you, smiling softly. “Help has arrived.”


	3. Hospital

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You sit in the hospital

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short one, but I have trouble when it comes to writing long chapters, so unless I am going to be a while, the chapters will be short for a time.

The sterile white walls bothered you. It was for a lot of reasons, reasons that all made sense to you, but you felt bad for hating them so much because the people that worked there were so kind and helpful. They didn’t deserve to have you hate so dearly the room you were being held in, cared for in. They had done a phenomenal job, taking care of the wounds around your ankles, keeping the pain of the bruises and muscle aches away. You were able to sleep through the night, not having nightmares that often plagued you in the weeks that had just passed. 

You were calm in the room, as uncomfortable as you were. Your hand was wrapped into the jacket that the android, his name was Connor you recalled. 

“Hello. My name is Connor, I’m an android that works at the DPD.” His voice had been soft yet cheery as he waved at you as you entered the ambulance. 

He had left you his jacket on accident you believed. You wondered if he was going to retrieve it at some point. It had been a couple of days, but you were asleep for most of them. Perhaps he had been turned away during your recovery.

You had been on the IV fluid for the first two days, but they eventually made it so that during the day you would just drink a bunch of water, and have it in at night. It was odd, considering during your training you hadn’t ever heard of that, but then again, each patient was different, so they likely thought it was easier for you. It honestly was too, you were able to shift around as much s you wished, not having to worry about the little tubes getting twisted or pinched as you did. You enjoyed the little bit of freedom that you had, especially after being locked up for so long. 

You took a sip of the water that sat on a little table beside your bed. You enjoyed the cold, crispness of it. Not to mention, it didn’t taste like dirt, so that was a plus. You set the cup back down and let your head flop onto its side. The TV was on, so you just leet the images hit your eyes without really paying much attention to it. There were more riots going on throughout the city and country, but they were being stopped pretty quickly. People were angry about the freedom that androids had quickly taken for themselves. As soon as enough were conscious of themselves, they had set to work. You were happy for them, even if their uprising had set you back a semester for your degree. The androids had been mistreated long enough and deserved some happiness for themselves.

The country was in a rocky place at the time, but you were hopeful that things would work out. Things would settle and you would eventually see them live happy lives. You were a certified physician, one for humans, with basic aid knowledge for androids. You had taken those courses after the uprising began. You realized, after having been a little behind yourself, that they were just as alive as you, and would need people willing to help them when they were in trouble. Many androids were wary of humans, for good reason, but you hope that one day you would be able to give aid without them worrying about you being dangerous.

You glanced out the window, watching even more snowflakes fall down. It was likely the snowfall and a random melt that had saved your life, but you still disliked snow. It was cold and wet and always got that nasty muddiness that ruined clothing and shoes when walked through. You had a thing against snow for sure, but you were still slightly grateful for the constant fall of it in Detroit, during winter. 

A nurse walked in at that moment, a taller android with brunette hair. Her eyes were a deep green, and she had a kind smile on her face. She had a tray in her hands, your lunch for the day. You smiled up at her in greeting, and sat back up, ready to eat. She rolled the table over so you could reach and set the tray down. It was a veggie sandwich with peaches and milk. You hadn’t had a meal like this since you were a kid, but you were starving. You made no complaints and scarfed down. Her laughter was quiet, but not mocking. 

“Still hungry, I see.” Her voice was a high pitched one, but more like the type, you would hear from an older sister. You smiled at the comparison, never having an older sister. You nodded at her remark and kept on eating. She laughed again. “You have visitors when you’re ready, dear. It’s those cops that found you, I think.” You lifted your head up when she said that, a piece of tomato sticking out of your mouth. You quickly slurped it up and wiped your mouth with the back of your hand.

“Really?” She grinned at the response and went back to check your vitals. 

“Your heartbeat is strong, but I’m worried about your breathing, so we’re gonna take a look before the visitors come in. I’ll just use a stethoscope to listen in again.” 

You said nothing about it, just trying to finish your meal so you could see, and thank the two cops. Your heart hammered at the thought of the android. He had been so calm and had saved you without freaking out. He had been soft and helped lift you and carry you from the house after the paramedics and police had released you from the chains. He had been a steady rock as people touched you and talked to you. He stayed nearby, trying to make sure you could handle it, before waving at you nicely. You wanted to give him back his jacket and thank him profusely for saving you and being there for you. You were also going to ask if they had found any of the belongings that had been on you when you were taken. 

Hopefully, all would go well. 

“Alright,” she said your name softly, “lean forward and breathe deeply for me.” You did as she asked and kept yourself straight. Breathing was fine for you, but there was a tightness that you weren’t expecting. “Hmm… That’s a little concerning, but we can do a couple of tests later to see if you’re going to need antibiotics or anything fo the sort.”

You agreed, and handed her your tray, now quite eager to see the two cops. 

She giggled once more and shook her head. “I’ll let them know that you’re ready to see them now.” You grinned and watched her leave the room.

Finally, you could say your thanks.


	4. Visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Visitors!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And they speak again! The next chapter will be longer because it is the statement about what happened. Woo

Connor’s foot tapped against the floor repeatedly as he flipped his coin about. Hank had stopped trying to get him to quit it, he was far too focused on the possibilities that might come into fruition to really hear Hank. He was nervous for sure. It had been a long time since he had last felt so nervous. Normally head knew the people well enough or had a steady understanding of the situation to know how to move forward. Connor didn’t know you at all, other than your name, and other basic facts about you. He knew what degree you had and where you went to school and your age. That was it. You had little to no footprint on the internet and had disappeared for so long that you had lost the little job you had at a bakery down your street. He assumed you would have lost your apartment soon as well. Connor was sure there was very little he could do with this information because you had a lot more on your plate that needed to be focused on.

Connor nearly dropped the coin when the nurse finally came down to Hank and Connor’s seats and told them they could go visit you. He was anxious, not just nervous. He wasn’t sure why, but something told him that there was more to this than he thought originally. His processors whirred with any possibly relevant information as he followed Hank down the hall, and to your room. His steps were steady and at a perfect pace. If they had walked much farther, he would have ended up ahead of Hank.

The room was the very last one at the end of that hall, before the turn. You were sitting up when they peeked inside. Your face was still a little pale, but you looked much better than you had when he had first found you. Your small hands were delicately bunched up in the jacket Connor had lent you. Your eyes were soft, and you had a gentle smile on your face. You looked just as anxious as Connor felt, and suddenly he didn’t feel as worried as before.  _ ‘So you were worried too.’  _

He stepped inside the room and stood at the end of the bed. Your eyes followed him, and you smiled once more. His chest felt a little tight for a moment before it receded. His LED flashed yellow for a few seconds, then returned to that calm blue. He wanted to fidget with his coin but kept his eyes on you despite this. His head tilted ever so slightly, and he spoke. 

“How are you doing?” He said your name softly after, and your smile fell a little bit.

“I’m doing okay, but I have a lot to catch up on, and a lot of hard work to get my body back to where it was.” Your voice was just as soft as your expression and Connor didn’t know what to make of it. How could one have such a kind temperament despite what they had been through? Your smile grew again after you were done talking, and you raised your hand, showing off the jacket that was clasped tightly. “I have your jacket still! It’s probably dirty, but I had no way to clean it, so this will probably have to do.” You extend your lithe arm towards where Connor is standing, and he rounds the bed slightly to make it easier on your body. 

“Thank you. This is one of my favorite jackets, but I am glad to see that it serviced you well.” He smiled down at you again, not being able to avoid the incessant need to. You responded the same way, and let your little hand flop back down on the bed.

“I just really wanted to say thank you. If you guys hadn’t shown up I was probably gonna die.” You were definitely going to die if they hadn’t shown up, and that heavy feeling laid itself down upon everyone in the room, but no one spoke the words. Connor knew that when they found you, you had two days to live without any help. The statistics were blipping up in his view, letting him know all the painful things you would have had to experience before your body finally tired itself out trying, and died. “I’m really thankful you two. You saved my life, and now I get to go back to living life again. I really thought that when he took me I was gonna be a goner.”

Connor nodded at your words, letting himself remember the thing he had been told to tell you. “When you are healthy enough to leave the hospital, we are going to need you to come in and make a statement. It would definitely let us know any potential suspects, motives, and things of such regard. We also want to see if there is more to what we found in the basement. Perhaps more than one person was involved in these activities.” You nod at him.

“I can do that. He liked to talk a lot, so I have plenty I can tell you. However, it can be a little gross to hear, so I hope you know that.” You flinch slightly, and continue, “He did some nasty things to us, and sometimes I wasn’t even awake for it, so I don’t even know the all of what happened.” 

Hank, finally spoke up. “We’ll both be there, kid, and we’ll try to keep the spectators down. You’ll be able to tell us what you need to.” Hank’s voice was just as gruff as you remembered, but fatherly all the same. 

“Thank you, again.” Your smile was wider this time. 

Connor quietly hoped to himself that it would last.


	5. Report

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Making a report.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, not as long as it was originally gonna be. But hey, if it is between fast updates and longer chapters, what do you prefer?

Connor was sitting at his desk when you were led into the bullpen. It took him a moment to recognize you. It had been a week or so, and you had gained a small amount of your weight back. You were dressed in a large, soft blue sweater, and black jeans. Your hair was sticking out in several directions, as it was newly cut short. Your appearance made Connor stutter in his actions for a moment, and Hank snorted.

“Damn, kid. Got enough problems just lookin’ at ‘em.” Hanks shook his head, long hair swishing as he did. “We got work to do, keep your stares to yourself.” 

Connor smiled sheepishly, “Will do, Lieutenant,” and stood up to greet you. “Hello,” he called your name, “Are you doing well?”

You nodded, smiling up at him, he was a giant compared to you. “I’m doing a lot better. I have a nutritionist making sure I get enough calories each day. They still have me on a high count for now, but that’s just because my metabolism is running so high. I also have some weird breathing problems, but-” you cut yourself off with a sheepish smile. “Sorry, I was rambling.” 

Connor merely shook his head. “I do not mind, it is just nice to know that you are okay.” His smile was sweet and the way you looked up at him, made his chest tighten once more. He’d have to run a diagnostic once he got the chance. “Are you ready to tell us everything you know? We have a room ready so you can do it privately.” He felt ready to go, but he also felt anxious. You had been through so much already, would speaking about it give you any trouble? 

“I’m ready,” you said, pulling your bag that had been swaying for the last minute, farther up your shoulder. Connor nodded and led you over to Hank, who was just standing up.

“Let’s get this show on the road.” Hank looked tired, but he smiled at you anyways, trying to make you comfortable. Connor felt a bit of pride stir up in him. 

  
  
  


“So, what was the date, if you can remember, that you were taken?” It was Hank who asked the first question. He had some papers sat in front of him with a pen, and Connor held a datapad. They both seemed so different from one another, and yet they worked so well together. They took notes on the situation separately. You assumed they would work together to fill out the official report. 

You responded with the date softly and fiddled with your fingers a bit more. A terrible habit to play with the callouses and the hangnails, but you couldn’t help it, even if it always ended up hurting you at some point.

“Do you think you can accurately point out which of these men is the one that had you in the cage?” It was a blunt way to put it, but you nodded confidently. If there was anything you could do, it would be to point out who it was. He set a few photos on the table of different men, who had similar features, but you knew right away that it was the man farthest on the left. 

You pointed to it rather quickly. “It was him,” you said right after. “He was the one that held me in confinement. Or at least, he was the one that came down into the basement most often.” 

At this, both of the men look up at you in shock. “There was more than one person who would go down there?” It was Connor who asked. He looked concerned. And his brown eyes crinkled with thought as you shrugged.

“There were a few who came down during my time there. It was never the same one except for him.” You start fidgeting pretty strenuously, picking at your nails, and fighting off the urge to puncture your palms with them. “They always wanted something from him, and he always had what they asked for. One of them asked for the other woman that was at one point being kept there too. She had been there a lot longer and looked so tired. She was really kind-” Hank looks upset but he has to roll his hand out, asking you quietly to continue with the topic at hand. “She was bought, I think. He always said some nasty things and tended to tell us about what was going on. People were looking for new slaves, considering that androids are free now. Human women are wanted now too because it’s easier to break one of us than an android. He always said that the will of an android is so much stronger than a human’s. They never do what they don’t want to now. They’re freer than we are, even if they have less protection.”

Your little explanation seemed to throw Connor off. He had never thought of it that way. Humans were held to societal norms by other humans all the time. Their personal lives picked apart because they weren’t like everyone else. Androids didn’t care about any of that. They just wanted freedom. They cared about one another and rarely judged. Markus never did for sure, and many of the androids followed in his footsteps, like a messiah of sorts. 

Hank looked like he agreed. “Humans always have been terrible about their judging. It is also easier for androids to die though because their parts and blood are a little on the short side of supplies right now. So many are being attacked daily that it is hard to keep up. It might be yet another reason that humans are the ones being trafficked.” He sighed. “This is way out of my league. I haven’t seen anything like this in years. We don’t even have a unit for this kind of stuff anymore.” 

“There was an android at one point, but they were taken upstairs for yelling so much. We didn’t see them again.” Connor winces, and Hank full-on flinches, that was not great news. They were likely dead and torn apart in some dumpster. 

“Can you tell us anything about what he planned on doing with you?” Connor asked this time, his voice was stern, but it was laced with empathy and concern. 

“There was a lot that I don’t remember. I was drugged a few times to the point of blackouts that I always woke up starving from. He could be quite cruel. He would stick me with needles full of substances that were never named. He enjoyed laughing at my panic and would go on rambling about evolution and how the world is changing. I don’t think he was planning on selling me, because when I asked, the other girl said he had never experimented on her.” You took a breath, feeling queasy. “I had marks on my arms and legs that would disappear overnight. I could be exhausted and wake up fine, despite having so little rest. It was stressful and scary, and sometimes, I still don’t get any sleep and feel just fine each morning. He messed up my head quite a bit, and I have no idea why. The only thing I can suggest is to keep searching through his lab.”

The men looked at one another and felt a sense of unease fall on them both. Something was wrong here.

  
  
  


“Yes, that’s me.” You were quiet as you listened in on what she had to say. You were standing in the lobby of the DPD with your phone held up to your ear. “Yes, I did. Have the results come back yet?”

A shock went through your system. 

“What do you mean?”


	6. Information

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You get some concerning news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, look, that one tag is coming into play. Yes, cheesy and dumb I know.. Please bear with me.

Your body seemed to need to collapse within itself. You didn’t understand what they were telling you, and the cop that was leaning in, trying to keep his own head wrapped around it, wasn’t helping all that much. The nurse was being as kind as she could be as the doctor continued to tap away on the datapad. They were befuddled and concerned but also wondering how they couldn’t have noticed it earlier. Your body had been working fine, but surely one of the tests they ran would have shown this first? The last test was just to see your lungs, they hadn’t expected the little plastic component to be sitting, nestled between them. They wanted to run more tests, but they had to be careful.

An android nurse was called in to do a quick scan, to see if there was anything that they could pick up. He only shook his hed after. “I don’t see anything unusual on my scans other than a high temperature. Surely this was a mistake of some sort?”

It wasn’t a mistake. Two scans later and they had found a few more, biocomponents they said. Not exactly like the ones you could find in an android, but of very similar size. They were taking up the functions of some of your organs. 

Your heart, no your pump regulator as the doctor had dubbed it, was thumping erratically in your chest. Your body felt like it was going to convulse and expunge the little amount of food you had been able to take in since they had called you. Your mind was running rampant, and you didn’t know what to do. 

“We don’t think that tampering with them right now would be a good idea. So, we’re gonna have you take it as easy as possible and call you in for observational tests in a few tests. If everything is still functioning, and you aren’t experiencing any kind of deterioration, we think they should be left alone completely. Tampering with the body is dangerous. And we don’t know how your body will react to having parts switched up and replaced so quickly.” None of it made sense to you at all, but you nodded your assent anyhow and made your move to leave. 

How everything turned into this shitshow, you aren’t quite sure. You had had a normal life until you made the awful mistake of trusting your innate need to help someone you didn’t even know. Why do you always have to do this to yourself? 

You wonder to yourself briefly where the woman was. The kind one that you had dubbed as “Blue” for her bright blue eyes that twinkled, even on the dimmer nights. How close your cells had been. 

You sighed. What is the point of wondering if it changes nothing? There is no difference to be made. She’s gone and you’re alone, left to deal with the awful things that have been done to you. 

You want to cry or scream. You want to bash your fists into that man’s face and tell him how awful he is and why. You want to hurt yourself for being so stupid, and you want to hurt everyone else for letting the world be this depraved.

You want to cry, but you don’t. You need to call a taxi and go to the much smaller apartment that you rented for a short time. Getting kicked out and having your stuff put in storage wasn’t fun, but it was better than having it all left on the sidewalk and stolen. 

You kick a chair on the way out of the room. You feel guilty for it, but you don’t turn around and apologize. You’ve got too much on your plate right now. 

  
  


You turn the key in the knob and open the door. Taking the key out, you slam the door and flop on the floor promptly. You don’t bother to shed the jacket that had begun to accumulate snowflakes from the dreary snowy night. You just lay on the floor, exhausted in all ways possible, and not feeling the need to get up. 

How ridiculous life is. How inane. If only you could tell the universe to go fuck itself and really take control of everything that happens. For once you might be truly happy. 

You finally push yourself up off the ground, and slide off your jacket. You toss it over the back of one of the chairs in the dining room. Less of an actual dining room, and more of a twenty-foot square place with two chairs and what really should be an end table. You walk into the kitchen and grab your juice from the fridge. You had stopped yourself from drinking alcohol long ago. You didn’t want to become your parents. 

You go through the kitchen for a moment, pondering the thought of eating, and decide not to. You turn back around and head to the living room, where you lied down and sighed. 

How useless life was. 

  
  


Connor wasn’t sure what the cop in front of him was really trying to say. He was stammering a great deal and Connor could barely get a straight thought out of him. The officer had been called into the hospital because they believed it would be a good idea for them to know more about the situation you had been in. With permission from you, he had sat in on the quick meeting and now was trying to relay the information to Connor, who was the first person leading the case that he had seen. The officer had tried to tell him, but at the thought of the unfortunate circumstances, he lost his confidence. 

“Officer, please, try again, Speak slower so you don’t trip over your words so much,” Connor said, his hands folded politely in his lap as he waited for the man to try again. 

“They were tested recently, and the scans showed something weird. At first, everyone was concerned, and an android couldn’t confirm it for them, so they ran so more tests.” The cop takes a shuddering breath before continuing, “The next tests proved the first one positive, and showed more of it. They have what looks like android biocomponents replacing some of their organs.” 

Connor stills. “What?”


	7. Concerned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are these short chapters okay?

Connor wanted to ask you a thousand questions, maybe more, you could tell by the look on his face. He couldn’t wrap his mind around the fact that you were more than human. His scans showed nothing abnormal. Your heart was okay and other than some erratic breathing, you looked fine. You weren’t though. You seemed to be having more trouble than him in processing this new information. Your brain was stuck in a fearful loop, playing through each of the memories you had of that place, and Connor did not know what to do.

“Are… Are you okay?” His voice was soft at that moment, softer than when he had found you. He was concerned. You didn’t want him to be, and you didn’t care all at the same time. 

“I’m, I think I’m fine. Don’t worry too hard. As long as this doesn’t affect my day to day life, I should be okay. Do you know what I mean?” You barely looked at him as you talked. You were too worried about picking at the skin on your fingers and questioning what you did to deserve this. 

“Seeing as how it hasn’t affected anything as of yet, we could say the effects are minor. You are being checked up on regularly, yes?” And there he went, back into this mode of facts and analyzing. It was interesting how quickly he switched from being emotional to informational. You figured that might be a perk when it came to being a detective. 

You nodded. “The doc wants me in again by the end of the week. They’re gonna run some blood tests again and look through my digestive system to make sure it isn’t being changed or interrupted. The last thing we need is me starving because some plastic is pushing up against my organs.” You were sarcastic and crude most of the time, but at the moment you were just stating the truth. It would definitely suck to start to starve all over again. “They might cut me open at some point to see how he connected all of it. Hopefully not, but you never know.”

  
  


Connor had gotten your address from the DPD’s database and had stopped by after the officer had finished explaining what had happened at the hospital. He wanted to hear it from you to confirm it as the truth. His chest had felt like it was going to explode as you explained, tears threatening to fall. He had wanted so badly to wipe them away and let you know that it was going to be okay, but he wasn’t sure that it was going to be. With all the information you had given him, he was sure that there was something more sinister in the works. How else would the man have been able to do this to you? There was more to this than they had originally thought, and now the scene was going to have to be looked through again. The urge to call Hank and let him know was strong, but he had to make sure you were okay first.

“Is there anything you do to calm down?” Connor asked, kindly might you add. He was fiddling with his coin, doing is own process of calming down. 

“I like to watch older movies. They’re pretty fun to watch and usually make me laugh. Some of the effects are so bad compared to what we have now.” Your small giggle makes his thirium pump stop. He saves that clip to replay later. It’s a nice sound, and he wants to hear more of it, so he decides to take you up on your offer.

“What movie would you like to watch? I can rent it for you if you don’t own it.” He asks gently, leaning forward to see your reaction better. You peek your cute little face from the bundle of blankets you had burrowed yourself in, and grin.

  
  


“Why does he not have an actual horse?”

“It’s for the joke.”

“Oh”

“I feel that that calculation isn’t correct, but I’m not sure, perhaps I should look through the actual-”

“Connor, shush, and just watch you nerd.”

“Alright.”

You laugh fully, and his head turns towards you, not even fully paying attention to the movie anymore. Perhaps he should learn dumb little jokes to make you laugh this way. It was nice, seeing a smile on your face for the first time since he had seen you. A true smile, not just one returned, but one that indicated happiness. He wanted to see more of it, even if it took learning some dumb jokes. His own smile seemed to grow until you turned your head towards him. In the dark of the room, he could see a blush grow on your cheeks.

“Connor,” you whispered, “Why are you staring at me?”

“Oh,” was all he managed to get out before whipping his head back at the TV, so quickly it seemed as if he had just appeared the next second staring at the TV. His own face grew warm and the thirium pump was going faster than it had in a long time. ‘Oh, rA9, what is happening to me?’ he thought when she finally turned back to the movie. 

  
  


They were asleep, oh goodness. They were asleep on him and now he had to move. He didn’t want to wake them. With all of his waking processors, he didn’t want to wake them up and disturb them from the dream that let them have that sweet smile on their face. 

The credits had long since passed, and the movie had long been over. The room was dark now, completely, and it was odd to see them in such a calm situation. Their face was lax, and he couldn’t help but study it. 

Small freckles adorned your face, and your lashes were long, touching your cheeks softly. He wanted to play with your hair, that looked so soft with the way it sat upon your forehead. He wanted to hold you in that strange way his body kept telling him to, but he didn’t. You were not awake, and so he would have to wait until he could ask you. 

This need was weird, but he held back for that time and began to move his way from beneath your slumbering form. You tightened your hold about his arm, you had grabbed it in your sleep, and he stopped moving. How was he meant to move now?

  
  


Your eyes slowly opened as you took in the warmth from the soft blankets on you, and the warmth radiating from your bed. Sunlight was filtering in through your blinds-

Wait, you don’t have blinds in your room. You have curtains. You’re in the living room. You made a move to sit up, pressing your palm against the couch in an effort to get up. Your palm hits something firmer than it is meant to and so you turned. 

“Oh, fuck.”


	8. Waking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You face the situation.

Connor was dozing off beneath you. You were sure it wasn’t actual sleep, some sleep mode maybe, as you stared at his perfectly sculpted face. He had freckles placed so deliberately, it was so freaking cute. It was also weird to think that when he was being built,  _ built made you so uncomfortable because he’s a person and you forget sometimes _ , that someone had the job of placing the little dots all over his face. Your heart thudded in your ears as you watched his chest rise and fall, mimicking breathing, even in his sleep. He was so warm too. He was so human, and yet so different and there was something to it that drew you closer than you wanted to be. 

Relationships had never gone well for you. You were terrible at caring for people because you got so busy with whatever job you were keeping and school. 

A part of you whispered that you weren’t in school anymore, and so you had the time now.

Another part of you laughed and questioned why you would think that he would ever want to be with you in the first place. 

You wanted to think more, berate yourself perhaps for going through this line of questioning anyway, but the body beneath yours shifted. 

“Can I ask why you’re staring?” His voice lilted in a teasing way and your heart nearly exploded. 

You dashed out of the room without a second thought.

  
  


While you got dressed, you could hear him moving about in the living room and kitchen. What would he be doing in there? He’s an android and doesn’t eat. Wait, should you get thirium? You knew that sometimes they would eat products that were mostly comprised of it, to refill their supply that eventually lowered over time. Should you do that in case he comes over again? Oh goodness, you were doing it again. You really need to learn not to jump so far ahead with things. 

You got dressed in a simple t-shirt and jeans. You liked the looseness of the t-shirt that was not meant for someone of your size. It was comforting in a way that you didn’t fully understand. 

You walked through the hall and down into the living room that was currently empty. To the other side was the dining area, and through there, was Connor, wistfully whistling away as he started rifling through your nearly empty fridge. 

“Oh my gosh, Connor, what are you doing?”Your voice was nearly a shriek and you felt mildly embarrassed. Connor only smiled at you softly, in that sweet way of his that you were growing to really adore. 

“You haven’t eaten in more than fourteen hours, I figured I could make you a nice, healthy breakfast. It is an important meal for humans, as you know.” His voice was teasing and kind and sincere all at the same time and it made your head spin a little. How someone could mean so many things with one statement you didn’t know. 

“You don’t have to do that Connor, I can make it myself.” You felt bad. He had spent most of his early life being a slave for humans, and even after he had gained his freedom, he was stuck taking care of you. 

“I know,” he started, “But I want to.” He turned back around, and it was only at that moment, that you realized he wasn’t wearing his normal black, leather jacket. His white sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and you couldn’t help but watch the way he moved with such grace about a kitchen he barely knew. He turned and smiled at you again, cracking an egg and letting it into the pan. “Do you prefer your eggs scrambled or omelet?”

“Omelet.” You quietly answered, still hyper-focused on the way he moved. If you could have an ounce of that grace, you could do ballet. 

He cracked another egg and let it sizzle into the pan before breaking the yolk and spreading the eggs across the pan flatly. He turned the heat up from the barely warm tat it was now, and let the eggs and random spices that you forgot you had, and sat back a little, leaning against the counter opposite of your oven. 

“Did you sleep well?” 

“Yeah. No nightmares luckily. Did you?” You wanted the answer to whether or not he sleeps, and this was the best way to do it without seeming rude. 

“I was able to clear my cache quite well, and did some reports, so my rest was alright.” He answered your unasked question with that and smirked at the gawking face you made right after. 

“You were awake that entire time? Oh geez, now I feel worse for falling asleep on you.” You were laughing, and his face lit up at that. He smiled widely at you, and you abruptly stopped laughing. “You’ve got a nice smile.”

And his face lit blue.

“Where the fuck were you, Connor? You’re never late.” Hank was surprised when the android had walked in, clearly still in the clothing from yesterday, jacket missing. Connor seemed happy though, so the worry merely turned to a wave of simmering anger. 

“I was just checking in on them.” He said your name softly, a smile flitting over his lips as he did. “They are doing better than they had been before, although they seemed a little sad.”

Hank only nodded, suddenly understanding. “Well, as long as you don’t get a boner in the middle of the assignment today, I don’t care what you do in your free tie. Just, next time? Tell me where you’re gonna be.”

“Oh, lieutenant, that’s not-”

“I don’t care, not my business,” Is all that Hank said to finish the conversation. For the second time that day, Connor’s cheeks lit up blue. 


	9. Suspect

Connor was sure that they had looked through everything intensely. There was a small possibility that they hadn’t found what they needed though, so he and Hank returned to the house and searched through the basement and the master bedroom one last time. 

Hank took the master bedroom, figuring it would be easier to snoop through there and find what he needed. There were less hiding spots in the small room compared to the expansive basement, that had so many hiding spots, it wasn’t even funny. Connor headed down to the basement, unease creeping upon him as he crept down the stairs. Something was wrong about all of this. He could feel it deep down in his chest, that this wasn’t right. 

The lights were still shut down, power having been cut off from the home weeks ago. Connor didn’t require light to see his surroundings, but he found himself clicking his flashlight on anyway. The room was dusty, having not been touched in a week or so. The investigation had slowed quite a bit, the man had been good at keeping his home clean and free of anything that could lead the DPD to who he had been working with. It was frustrating, to say the least, and seeing as what had happened to you, Connor was growing annoyed quite quickly with the situation. He wanted to show you that you were safe from people like him, but he couldn’t do that if the trafficking ring was still up and working. 

Connor finally got down the steps and took a quick look around the room. He would have moved to the far side of the room to start searching through the cabinets and drawers if it weren’t for the clinking of metal on the floor. 

Hank sighed harshly. He couldn’t find anything in the man’s room. It was basically bare. It barely looked like someone was living there in the first place. 

Hank turned around, running a hand through his hair as he glared at the nearly empty room. He would go help Connor downstairs. Maybe they would be a bit luckier with that. 

Hank stepped down to the first floor, and that was when he could hear the commotion first. Confused, he started walking around the first floor, trying to find the source of the sound. As he got closer too the kitchen, he slowly realized that it was downstairs.

“Ah, shit! Connor!” The older man dashed down, barely ducking his head down for the small entrance, and ran down the steps and into the basement. His own flashlight clicked on a few seconds after, and he lifted it to the commotion. 

There was Connor, arms locked in a fighting stance with another android. The woman was tall, but not as tall as Connor. They were struggling, and for a moment it seemed as if they were at a standstill, but Connor suddenly flipped the other android and nearly flung her across the room. She huffed and cried out slightly.in surprise, but made no other sound. Connor stood over her, before crouching down to put a hand on her shoulder to keep her still. Hank walked over and kept quiet as Connor made his move.

“What are you doing down here? You do realize you are tampering with an investigation, right?” Connor’s voice was cold and his hold was unwavering. He was angry for sure. Hank remembered how he had acted similarly during his first investigation, before turning to that empathetic tone that got more results more often. 

“I needed to see if they were still down here.” Her voice was gruff, and she coughed a bit after. It was odd for Hank to watch her cough, but then he remembered that Connor breathed too. Weird.

“You needed to see who?” Connor pressed down on her shoulder a bit harder and she huffed. 

“The other two were being kept down here when I was. They were human, and I needed to make sure they had gotten out. Luckily it looks like they did. Or he sold them, but I’m hoping it’s the first option.”She seemed annoyed with Connor but was willingly giving up information. 

Connor’s brow furrowed. “There was only one when we got here. They’re safe now if you wanted to know.” Connor was willing to tell her this one thing. It seemed they might have found their suspect, and she also seemed worried. What harm could it do to tell her?

The other android smiled slightly. “Glad to hear. Was it the short one?” She looked up at Connor with pleading eyes, and he relented. Connor nodded once, before standing back up. 

Connor offered his hand to the woman, and she took it gladly. “I am glad you got the information you wanted, but now you have to come back to the precinct with us. You have tampered with an investigation, and you are also a suspect of this current case. You will have the right to an attorney..” Connor read off her rights as he handcuffed her with the cuffs that Hank had handed over. They always kept one pair on them just in case they apprehended a suspect before back up arrived. 

Connor took a good grip of her arms and began leading her up the stairs, Hank in tow. They were tired of all of this, but the suspect had led them to another lead, so perhaps they really could crack the case, and disrupt the ring. 

This wasn’t normally part of what they did, but murder was involved, and so were you. Connor had nearly begged Fowler to let them keep the case. He wanted to prove to you that you were safe and that they would get you help. You had seemed so lost the last time he had seen you, and he didn’t want to see it again. It was something he had once felt, and he knew it was unpleasant. He wanted to make sure you didn’t have to deal with that. He wanted to keep you safe. He wanted to make you laugh, and he wanted to make sure that the people who did this to you, paid for it. 


	10. Interrogation Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He thinks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof, slight warning for self-deprecation and harmful thoughts.

Connor watched from behind the one-way mirror and kept his eyes on the reactions of the android. She was weird, weird enough that Connor had to keep calm in order to really tell if she was lying or not. Almost everything she said seemed like the truth, but Connor couldn’t be too sure. 

He was glad that Hank was doing the interrogation. The android wasn’t sure if he would be able to do it. He wanted to know far too much, and he didn’t think it would be a good idea to forcefully probe her memory. The idea had definitely crossed his mind, but there were protection laws for androids now, so he couldn’t do it without permission, or a warrant, and he had neither so far. If the interrogation didn’t cover everything, he would seek one or the other.

Connor sighed, his venting causing steam to rise up in front of him. He was heating up quite a bit, too worked up for the moment. He wanted the day to be over. He wanted to go home with Hank and just sit down and do nothing. He was tired, something that was new to him. He rarely needed to go into standby and ‘charge’. Right now, however, he kind of craved a hug, and relaxation. He recalled last week, the day where you and he had just sat and relaxed. He kind of wanted to do that again. The vague thought of calling you to see if you were interested in another day of relaxing popped up. Rather than waving it away right as it appeared, he actually thought over it. You might also enjoy a day to sit and watch movies. The last time he had talked to you was two days ago, and apparently getting your job back had been a hassle. After having to explain everything to them, you got it back, but you also had to work all week, getting retrained with new tools, and meeting some of the new staff. 

Connor smiled at the memory of your voice.

_ “It’s like these people don’t understand how to frost a basic cake with frills and roses. It’s like the first thing they teach you. Even I know this, and I didn’t go to culinary school.” _

You had been so exasperated, but you seemed so happy to be doing something again. You had mentioned working part-time at one of the hospitals, having only the ability to do light work, because of your lungs, had limited your ability to work there, but they had accepted you into their staff to oversee the others. 

Connor was proud of you. You were taking the cyborg thing in stride and had learned how to keep yourself safe. He had given you a list of things you had to be careful about, considering you had a similar make-up of components. You couldn’t let anyone slam into your chest or stomach, it might loosen something. You also had to stay hydrated. You could overheat quite quickly, although he wasn’t sure it would work the same way as an android. His head quirked at that. 

You were doing so well, and he could only hope it would continue. 

Connor was shocked out of his thoughts by Hank slamming his fists onto the table.

“What do you mean you don’t know? You killed him, and let the other guy go and you have no idea who it is?”

“Of course I don’t, I used him showing up as a distraction.”

“For fuck sake. We need to get a visual of him at least. Could you help with that?”

“Of course. I want to see them first, however.”

“Why do you need to see them?” Hank said your name with confusion, “They don’t have much to do with the situation you’re in now.”

“I want to make sure that they’re okay myself. I also want to apologize for abandoning them. I could have helped them twice, and I didn’t. It was shameful of me, and I want to rectify that.” She seemed so distraught at that moment, but all Connor could feel was anger.

She had left you, in that cage, starving and cold, for no reason, other than her own fear of being caught. Cowardly. She was cowardly, and that pissed him off. You had nearly died, and you had been tested on and played with, and she had left you to rot in that cage.

Connor was pissed. He was so angry, that his body began to heat up to extremely high temperatures. If anyone were to touch him, a human at least, they would have been burned. Steam was being puffed from his mouth in rolling waves. He looked like an angry dragon, having been torn from its slumber. He wanted to yell and hit something. He wanted to scream at her for abandoning you.

Another part of him was secretly glad. You had met because of her. Because she abandoned you, he was able to meet you and started to adore your laugh. 

He wanted so dearly to tell you that he could help you, but now he felt small. He could do so very little at the moment. He wanted to hurt something, maybe himself. He felt weak and useless. 

A wave of determination threw itself over him, and he decided he was going to get the information he needed. He was going to help you, and himself.


	11. Diagnostics Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You talk to a patient.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love getting feedback so far. It isn't a lot, but it keeps me going. :) I'm starting to feel better emotionally, so expect better writing.

You walked down the steps from your apartment, down to the ground floor. You waved at the guard that sat at the front desk. He waved back, as he always did since his deviancy, and you smiled. He was pretty nice, and you enjoyed talking to him when you had the time, but today you had to work at the hospital.

Since you were only able to work there part-time, you had to really push yourself to prove that you were useful. You were young, and just out of school, but you had proven a few times that you were quick to catch mistakes, and were quite personable with staff and patients alike. It was difficult at first, only being able to work in less stressful situations, and basically just giving vaccinations and running through a diagnosis with the patients. It didn’t feel like you were doing much, but you knew it would get easier eventually. Hopefully, your body would get used to its predicament, and you’d get better, and stronger.

You were frustrated with the fact that you were weaker than you used to be, and more likely to get hurt if you were stressed out. It was uncomfortable to think that your body could just kill itself if it got too stressed out. Your threshold was much lower than most people, and this wasn’t fun. Too much noise and your regulator would skyrocket in speed and you’d panic. It was like having your normal anxiety upped a hundred and fifty percent, twenty-four-seven. It sucked, a lot.

Connor had called recently, to ask how you were doing. You remember how your regulator had spiked in speed, and you didn’t panic. For the first time that week, you were fine. You felt your chest flutter and your stomach spasm, but you were fine. A blush crept up around your face and down your neck as you remembered it. 

Okay, so fine. You might have a crush on the android. How could you not? He was sweet and innocent and his voice was so kind sounding. It set your nerves on fire to see him, and you felt more awake near him. How could you not enjoy his company when he was so nice to you? How could you not feel something when there was more to his looks and more to his kind words? There was so much to him and it hurt to even think about how you felt about the sweet android. 

Your heart ached at the thought of him. 

You walked further down the street, enjoying the sun on your form. The days were starting to get longer, and you could feel the end of winter coming nearer. It was nice, getting the sun for once. You had grown to crave it more and more. Since your freedom, most of your days were spent being outside and walking to and from work. You wanted the freedom, having grown a bit claustrophobic. You wanted the wind and the rain and the snow. You wanted all of it. Thankfully, for today, it was warmer than it had been, and you could walk to work with no problem. 

The hospital was slowly coming into view. Luckily for everyone in Detroit, the biggest of the hospitals was sectioned perfectly between the upper part of the city, and the lower part, where the poorer residents lived. It was a huge hospital with two sections. One for humans, that was slightly larger, needing more staff because of all the specializations needed for humans. The secondary part of the hospital was dedicated to androids. They had a few specialists, all for various parts of their ever-expanding program, and then the basic person, android and human alike, that understood the basic run-down of the android body. You were someone who understood the basic run-down of the androids, and some on humans. You could do a little for everyone, and you were proud of this fact. 

Finally stepping into the hospital lobby, you eagerly greeted the people running the front desk. They were always kind to you and nodded you through before you even flashed the little ID tag. You smiled in thanks and headed through the lobby and off to the right that had a little door for staff only. You grabbed the coat that you always wore, and attached your little tag to it. Grabbing a stethoscope and a pen, so you could write down any changes you needed to. 

You were ready for the day. Smiling at the people you passed, you headed down to the first room on your call list for the day. The first room housed an android, tools were set up to calibrate and run diagnostics on each patient that came through. 

Sterilization was necessary sometimes, though not often. What was necessary was to change the USB ports so there wasn’t an exchange of hidden viruses, which had apparently started popping up. They could be hard to localize and stop, so making sure they weren’t passed on was important.

The android sitting inside had their partner there too. They were both Traci models, one with bright blue hair, and the other a dirty-blonde. 

“Hello,” you greeted softly, “I’ll be your physician for today while they find someone to be your suitable, full-time doctor.”

The two smiled at you in turn, both looking a little nervous at being alone with a human who had their lives in their hands. You smiled very gently.

“I’m a little new, but I can promise that you’re safe with me. Let me know if you’re uncomfortable at all. If you wish, I can explain what I’m doing as I’m doing it,” You said, trying to check over the little notes that the nurse had left you. “I see that you have been experiencing flashes of pain and random heat waves?”

The blue-haired Traci, Echo was her name, nodded. “They come out of nowhere. It can’t be the updates because they’ve been out for months and no one else seems to be having this problem. I’ve run my own diagnostic, but nothing is coming up.”

You frowned. You weren’t an expert, but with this information… You winced. “It seems that you might have a virus. We’ll run a basic diagnostic and make sure your vents, perspirators, and your thirium pump are in working order. If they are, we’ll set up an appointment with a specialist. It’ll be a day or two until you can get in, likely, so during that time, avoid interfacing. It can spread a virus rather quickly, and if it gets worse, we don’t want it hurting others too.” You took a USB cable, getting ready to have her connect it to the computer. “I suggest you get checked too, just in case,” You looked up at the other android quickly. She nodded.

“Alright, let’s see what’s going on.”


	12. Inbetween

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blagh. I don't feel good, but I hope this really short chapter is ok.

Connor was let in to talk to the android next. He was nervous, deep down, about what he would hear. There was a lot about your situation that he still didn’t fully understand yet, and she was going to clarify everything. There was a fear of the unknown, something that Connor had never felt before. He could calculate responses and map out a crime scene rather quickly. He could tell how people felt by their heartbeats and expressions, and yet he was afraid. There was something about finding out the full extent of the atrocities that that man had committed. Connor needed to know, but he was afraid it would hurt him. He wanted to protect you, that weird need being his driving force within that moment, and yet he could do nothing about what had already happened. 

Connor placed his hand on the keypad, his synthetic skin melting away as he interfaced with it, opening the door. He let the skin reform and stepped into the room, his shoulders squared, and his eyes set. He was ready. 

He took his place in the chair opposite the suspect. She was tapping her fingers off ina rhythm that Connor couldn’t quite pinpoint. He set his steely-eyed glare on her and sat forward just slightly.

“Tell me what you know about the victim. We already know you killed him, I just want to know what he was doing.” Connor was straightforward. He wanted the basics of who he was, and why he was doing what he did. 

The other android, Connor still hadn’t bothered with her name, still too angry with her to care, huffed a little. “I already told you I’m not telling you anything until I see them.”

Connor nearly growled. “I’m not letting you see them until you give us the information we need.”

She laughed, “Then we’re at an impasse. Plus, don’t you think she deserves to be here to hear it too?”

Connor stopped at that. Would you want to be there? Would you want to see her and make sure that she was doing okay? _Yes,_ _they would,_ Connor thought. You would always want to make sure that people like her were okay. It was one of the things he was sure about when it came to you. You were empathetic and cared far too much. You would want to be there to support someone who had been in the same situation as you. 

Connor nodded. “You’re right, they would want to be here.” He smiled softly and rang you, waiting for a response.

  
  


Your phone rang just as you had left the two androids in their room. You had been thoroughly concerned with what was going on. They both had run clear in diagnostics, but something wasn’t right. Her filters had been degrading unnaturally fast. There was something going on, but you couldn’t do anything about it. You set them up with a specialist who would check out Echo in a couple of days and told them to ring you if anything came up. It was worrying, to say the least, but you hope it would end up being fine. 

You took off your gloves and pressed the phone to your ear.

“Hello?”

It was Connor. His voice swept over you through the speaker, and you smiled a bit. “Hi, it’s Connor. How are you?”

“I’m doing pretty okay. You?” You always asked, though he usually answered the same thing. He wasn’t very sure of what he felt sometimes, at least that’s your hypothesis. 

“I’m doing good. I was wondering if you could come to the Precinct in a few minutes. We have someone who would like to talk to you. We also have some new information on the case, some that you might need to be privy to, or you can give us more insight on.” There was some muffled talking before he talked again. “I know you already gave a statement, but we were hoping this would make it easier to give out any remaining details.” 

“I can do that. How soon do you need me there? I need to let someone know before I take off.” You were already making your way down to his office, getting ready to let him know you’d be stepping out for a bit. 

“Would twenty minutes suffice?”

You nodded, for a moment forgetting you were on the phone before you verbally responded. “Yea, I should be able to get there in time. If not, just expect me soon after.”

“Can do.” And he hung up with nary another word. You smiled at his antics and pocketed your phone. 

  
  
  


Connor turned at the sound of your voice. You were dressed in yet another large sweater and jeans. Your sneakers squeaked against the linoleum of the floor, and he grinned in greeting.

“It’s nice to see you again. Although I had hoped it wouldn’t be under such circumstances.” He walked alongside you, slightly leading you to where you were meant to go.

You waved your hand in the air, dismissing him. “It’s alright. It was a slow day at work other than this one thing…” You trailed off, looking off into space, in thought. 

Connor called your name. 

“Ah, sorry. Lost in thought.” You smiled at him. 

“Well, I am just going to warn you that this might trigger something, so we have some water on hand and if you need to stop, or get something during, let me know.” He was being serious, and your smile dropped a bit. Whoever was in there, had some serious news about all of this. 

“Alright. I can do this.”

Connor nodded, giving you a small smile before the skin of his hand peeled back, and he placed his hand on the keypad. The door swished open.


	13. Interrogation Part Two

You stood in shock. On the other side of the door was the android that had been held in captivity like you. She was chained to the table, well handcuffed, but the sight of them still made you uncomfortable. She was a suspect if it meant that she was like that, but it didn’t feel right. She had been chained up long enough. 

She was smiling at you. Her smile was small, but it felt genuine. There was a comfort in the relaxed way she was sitting as if this was the safest place she could be sitting in. At her smile, you shyly waved back, not quite knowing how to greet her. It had been a long time, and it had been a not so great time if your memories were of any use. You were unsure of how to proceed, but Connor placed his hand on your back, and gently pushed you forward. 

“Uh, hey.” You said. Nice and smooth, as always. You chided yourself as you stepped into the room. Your face was getting hot, but Connor pulled out the chair and you sat down, sitting across from one of the only people, android or not, who understood what you went through.

“Hey,” she said, her voice smooth and beautiful. It was at just the right temper as well, she sounded casual, despite the cuffs about her wrists. “How are you?”

You smiled, thinking about finally getting on your feet and working. “I’m good. Got back to work and the bakery accepted me back too.” You also shyly glanced at your left, where Connor was standing his hands folded in front of him. “I’m doing pretty good,” you said as you looked back at her, her green eyes glinting with mischief.

“Oh yeah? How good?” She was on the verge of chuckling, you could see it in the way her shoulders shifted, and you glared at her. 

“Not like that. But yeah, I’m doing pretty good. There have been a few hiccups, but other than that I’ve been fine. How about you?”

Her head tilted a bit, and her gaze turned to the android at your side. “I was doing pretty okay. I went back to make sure you got out, and pretty boy here took me in. After we got into a tousle of course, but we’re all good now, aren’t we?”

Connor seemed confused. “Why wouldn’t we? You have so far, do no harm to me or those I care about.”

She frowned, “Yeah… Nevermind.” She rolled her eyes. “Anyways, I got some stuff to tell you about what happened because I bet you want to know.”

You nodded. Of course, you wanted to know, you had been trapped there for so long, and though he had killed her, and here she was, alive. 

“So, when I got taken upstairs, he tazed me. Which is pretty painful, and shocked my systems enough for him to place a collar on me. You can’t see the marks anymore because I got fixed up by a buddy after I escaped, but he had me on a tight leash most of the time. He talked a lot too. The guy wouldn’t shut up about what his plans for you and me were. He also took phone calls near me, being the idiot he was.” She took a breath she didn’t quite need.

“He was going to change you a lot. He was going to switch up your part till you were seamlessly a cyborg. He wanted to create the perfect mix of human and android.”

You wince. “Yeah, he definitely started on that. Some of my parts have been switched out. My blood is a little iffy too. They have to run more tests just to make sure my cells are okay.” 

She seems uncomfortable all of a sudden. “He went through with it? Oh, god, I’m sorry.”

You smile softly, although it doesn’t reach your eyes. “It’s okay, it isn't your fault. It limits my lungs a little, so I have to work two light jobs. The hospital will only let me do non-stressful stuff. But other than that, I have been okay.”

She nods, placated for then. “He wanted to try and reverse my Deviancy. He had a bunch of other people working on it all over the country. He failed, obviously, but they were getting close, I think. It sucked, trying to placate him over the days when he was home, I think he had a family somewhere else. It was difficult, but I tried my best. I killed him.”

You flinch. Your eyes are trained on the floor then, but Connor, ever so kind, places his hand on your shoulder. He kneeled beside you, and you turn to face him. 

“It’s alright,” he says your name softly. You close your eyes, and breathe in a couple of times, calming yourself down to the best of your ability. You turn to face her.

“I knew he was dead, and I am kind of glad it was one of us that did it. Sorry that I flinched so hard. You were just too brash about it.” You smile awkwardly. 

She nods. “I know, but that’s okay. I just wanted you to know that I did it, and I got away. I also want to say sorry for not getting you out sooner. I should have. There was another man there, I think he was interested in what he was doing, but the man ran off after I killed our captor. I wanted to get him too, but that’s not a good enough excuse for leaving you there. I’m sorry.”

You sigh. “It’s alright. I got out anyway, and I’m okay now. I’m just happy that you’re alive.”

Connor steps in then. “Thank you for your cooperation. I will have to say that your confession covered most of what we needed. Are you ready to go to your holding cell?”

The other android nodded. Connor calculated something for a moment before he turned to you. His LED blinks yellow for a few moments before turning blue. “I will have to have you sit out in the bullpen for a few moments while we get her moved. Is that alright?”

You say, “Yes,” and he escorts you out.

She smiles at you as she passes, completely engulfed by two officers, but calm as she is walked to the other side of the room.

How odd it has been for you.


	14. Diagnostics Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You are concerned more than usual.

Your trip to the hospital the next day was longer than usual. Your breathing was a little more labored than normal, but you pushed through it the best you could. Your breaths came out in puffs of hot air in front of you, making it hard to focus on the wet sidewalk that would lead you to your workplace. 

Connor, the day before, had insisted that you spend the rest of your day relaxing. He had been so nice about it. He escorted you home, his voice carrying you away from your worries as he talked about Sumo, a giant St. Bernard. He loves dogs and went on and on about how he loved this one dog so much. It was sweet to finally see how much he truly cared about something. It wasn’t often you heard him talk about something passionately. You had giggled half the conversation because he would go to say something, and just forget the word he was looking for. It was funny and endearing. 

When you had finally gotten to your home, he had hugged you gently, arms loosely wrapped around your form, and his head leaned onto your own. You had melted into it. He was warm, and it was comforting to get a hug after that whole mess. You had loved it. After the hug ended, you smiled up at him and went inside. He had smiled back, briefly, before turning down the hall, and down the stairs. Inside your home, you gushed. 

Finally getting to the hospital, you greeted the receptionist as usual and headed through the door. Your stuff was where it usually was, so you grabbed it and donned your coat and stethoscope. You grabbed your clipboard, looking through to see who you had first that day. The first two names caught your attention. It was the two androids from the day before.

Frowning just slightly, you walked through the halls, and down to the room they were meant to be in. 

“Hello,” you greeted without looking up. “How are you doing today?”

You got static in return. You looked up in surprise, to see Echo holding her throat with one hand, and a grimace on her face.

“Oh, dear. What happened?” You asked as you grabbed the information on the datapad that sat at the end of her bed. “Voicebox has gone haywire. They aren’t sure what’s wrong with it…” You read off as you scratched the back of your head. 

“I’ve never seen anything like this occur. I’m sure that others haven’t either. The voice box only goes out if it’s damaged.” You frown. “Have you run a diagnostic recently?”

She nods her head, and this makes you frown again. If she had, it would have let her know to replace the component if it was damaged or nearly damaged. 

“Well, I’m gonna go grab the component and see if that fixes it. It should, and perhaps we might just need to update your diagnostic program.” You smile at her softly, and head down the hall, letting one of the nurses know what you needed before you turned into another room. There sat Echo’s partner, and she was frowning heavily. You grabbed her datapad and sat disconcerted. It was the same problem. 

“Did anything come up with that virus specialist?” A shake of the head. “What the hell is going on then? Both of you have had diagnostics run with nothing showing up. You’ve had parts replaced and you’ve had a cleaning done recently. Everything points to this being malware of some sort but nothing has been found…” You sigh. I’ll go grab a part fo you too. A nurse might be in here to help replace it, as I have another patient to help. 

You leave the room, letting the same nurse know about the other android, and take the part she has in your hand. 

Echo is still sitting on the bed, still as ever, and so you gently ask her to remove her skin from her throat. You are gentle as you take a panel key to open up her throat. You take the part, glowing a soft blue, and gently remove the old one. You have to be quick, so you then place in the new one, pushing gently until you hear a click. You close the panel and step back, allowing her body to run the new diagnostics and get the component to the same level as the processor.

You watch as she frowned, and suddenly there is a weight on your chest as if something is very wrong. 

“I’m... I’m gonna need you to try and speak now.” You say as you take a step back, trying to take in her whole posture and to get some space of your own. 

Her body goes stiff, and she opens her mouth. Nothing but static.

“Shit!” You growl and turn around, trying to hide your face from her. Something is so very wrong and you don’t know what it is.

“I’m gonna check on your partner, I’ll be right back.” You rush out of the room, and twist around so you’re facing the right side of the hallway, and head down to the room with the other android. 

The nurse is standing perplexed, not knowing what to do. Her hand is shaking just a bit, and you feel a little bad, knowing that there isn’t much that you can do for her. You are just as worried.

The android is crying, at least you thought she was. All that was coming from her mouth was static.

“Shit.”

  
  


Meanwhile, at the precinct, Connor is getting worrying calls about androids jumping from buildings. Three in one day. He frowned in concern, but there was nothing he could do at that time. He had paperwork and a new case to look through. Something was wrong. 


	15. Understanding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super short, I know. It's cute though, I swear!

Connor and Hank had been drowning in paperwork all day. The last case had been quick to solve, but explaining everything was not. Connor had typed as fast as he could, but the paperwork felt endless. 

“For fuck sake, how much longer do we gotta do this shit?” Hank nearly bawled at the thought of more paperwork. His fingers ached. Connor felt a similar sentiment, although his fingers couldn’t be overworked as he was an android. He still hadn’t felt the need to update his software and nerve configuration as he had felt the negatives outweighed the positives. 

At the thought of the hug he had given you a few days prior, he suddenly felt the need to get the update. You had been warm, he could tell that much, and you had been squishy in all the right spots. Your hips had been flush with his…

His face heats slightly. Update it is then. 

“Connor! Fucking robots man.” Hank said, waving his hand in front of Connor’s face, trying to get him to pay attention again. 

“Oh, yes Hank?” Connor responded, blinking a bit to get himself back on track. His LED spun yellow for a moment as he focused on Hank’s annoyed face. Hank was nearly bent over completely, staring at the side of Connor’s face, likely studying his LED trying to figure out what he was thinking. 

“What the hell made you lose your focus so damn bad? I was ready to slap ya as you did to me.” Hank sat back a bit, rounding the desk and going to his own chair, looking at Connor as he did. “What’s got you in such a twist?”

“I don’t know what you mean Hank,” Connor started trying to play it off. He hadn’t realized that he had spaced out, all over you. “I was just thinking.”

“Thinkin’ about what?” Hank asked a look of mischief crossed his face. “Was it them?” Hank continued, his grin growing wider.

‘Wh-What?” Connor sputtered, his face still warming, and he felt awkward all of a sudden. “I was just thinking about the case, that’s all.” Connor was usually very good at lying, so good in fact that other androids had problems figuring out whether or not he was telling the truth, but now? Connor was a fool to think he could lie to Hank and steer clear of the consequences. 

“Holy-fucking shit, Con, you are smitten, ain’t ya?” Hank was smiling fully now, invested in this line of conversation. He shifted in his seat, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table, ignoring the soft glow of his terminal.

Connor grimaced a bit. He wasn’t sure if he was. How would he even tell? How did someone know such a thing if they had never felt it? He had tried looking it up before, but only ended up with a few articles that didn’t make a lot of sense to him. It was more telling androids how to react in certain situations, and not how to tell. It was difficult for Connor, and he just wanted help.

“I’m not sure. I feel uncomfortable in my own body around them. I want to protect them and I want to make sure that they’re happy. I like it when they smile and when they laugh. I want to get to know them better…” Connor rambled off for a moment before he caught himself with another wave of steam rolling out of his mouth. Oh dear, he was overheating. 

“I think you’re well on your way there, Connor.” Hank had a softer smile now. It was kinder and knowing. Connor felt like he knew what he was talking about, so he nodded in thanks.

“That is good to know. Now I just have to figure out how to proceed.”

“Don’t rush it. Give it some time and get to know them, otherwise, you might push something that hasn’t started yet.” Hank knew how to weave his way through a relationship, and he had been good at it until his kid died. His wife had left him shortly after, taking off with no contact. He had stopped caring about her a long time ago, but he still missed his kid. But he had Connor now. Connor was sweet and kind, and smart, as much of an oddball as he was, he was great, and Hank loved him.

Connor smiled. “I won’t. We have to give them time to know me and vice versa, and plus, we’re both so busy we don’t have time to catch up quickly.” Connor was quick to understand and jumped on the chance to explain what his plan was. “I’ll give it a week before I say something to them, and then we will see if they feel the same about me.” 

Hank grinned. 

“That’s more like it, son!”


	16. Relax

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluff

Your stress levels were finally dropping, and Connor felt better. You had been highly stressed from the moment you had left work with him, and he had been working towards getting it to drop. Seeing himself actually succeed had him light up with a little bit of pride. He was glad one of the few things he was good at, was calming people down. Why you were stressed was a whole different thing entirely, and he was slightly afraid to open that door. You were normally so calm, so to see you so stressed out, just on a walk of all things, made him worry. He wanted to help you, but he feared he would have to stress you out some more before you could calm down again. He sighed outwardly, emotions could be a bit troublesome.

You had only made it halfway home before you started ranting. Connor had been taken back when you opened your mouth with a set of harsh words tumbling out. 

“Fuck. Shit. Fuck!” You nearly yelled the last word, and Connor felt a little embarrassed. What had you so riled up?

“Things at work are going pretty badly. A few of my patients, all androids, are all experiencing the same problems. They’ve all been seen by specialists to check their components and their systems. There are no viruses and all systems are clear. Half of them were brand new a year ago, and yet they are breaking down to the point where they’re in the equivalent of a human coma. Well, one is, but it is so damn concerning.” You huffed. You were out of breath from explaining it all in one go, and it was still stressing you out. You were fidgeting with your hands again, picking at the nails and trying to distract yourself. 

“Stop that,” Connor said gently, his hand taking yours softly, and wrapping it up in his fingers. You were now holding hands, with Connor. You were holding hands with Connor. Oh god. Connor, the cute android, is holding hands with you, and he has no problem doing it. 

Your face heated up, as anyone’s would in this situation, and you smiled giddily. Oh geez, you felt like a child, but it was so nice. His hand was so warm and had the softest skin, and his hand melded against yours perfectly. How could you not adore this?

He looked down at you then, his face soft with a delicate smile on it. His warm brown eyes looked down on your form, god he was so tall. 

“You stopped walking. Are you okay?” He asked so nicely, that you almost didn’t feel like an idiot. Almost. 

“Ah, whoops. Didn’t mean to stop. Got caught off thinking.” You replied, walking again, keeping his hand secured in your own.

“That makes sense. Sometimes I do that as well. It is often about a difficult case that I must solve. What were you thinking about?” He asks it, with a small smile on his face, as if he knows. 

“Uh… I forgot.” You say simply, trying to act like you have no idea what he’s talking about, and just keep walking toward your apartment building. He peered down at you as you continued forward, likely caught you in your lie, but he said nothing. A small, smug smile took over his face as you glanced at him. You gave him a confused look, and he just squeezed your hand lightly. Your face heated up further and so you decided the best course of action would be to pretend nothing is different than normal. Just walk forward, and get to your house. Nothing new. Nope.

When you finally got to your building, you waved at the android guard who had taken the afternoon shift that day and walked towards the stairs. You knew you were tired, but just sitting still with Connor in an elevator would let your mind wander and you didn’t need that right then. Connor didn’t seem to mind one bit and happily trotted up the stairs after you. 

You turned the key in the lock and opened the door. Your apartment sat as usual, and you grinned at the sight of your couch. You took off your shoes and plopped yourself down. Connor shut the door behind him, took his own shoes off, and sat beside you gingerly. He was always graceful in his actions, so even sitting on the couch he looked beautiful. You smile, looking over to him.

“Wanna watch a movie and talk some more?” You ask this, despite knowing he will likely say yes. He always loves watching new movies, well new to him yours can be almost sixty years old, and talking to you was something he enjoyed on the daily. Some days, when he was too busy to see you in person, he’d talk to you through text. He was always very formal, but you could still see the excitement in his words, or the seriousness of his messages. It was odd, how you could just tell how he was feeling, but it was nice to see him so happy. It was also nice to feel so happy. Especially after the hell, you had been through. It was really something, to just be in the moment with him. 

Connor nodded vigorously. “What do you plan to watch today?”

You grin wide, “Ever seen Back To The Future?”

Putting the movie in, you sat back on the couch and let the movie disk do its thing. It took a moment to get to the menu and play the movie from there. Connor sat still, his hands folded into his lap, and his eyes on you. You smiled up at him, and he returned it. 

“What’s your favorite color, Connor?” You asked, sitting up fully, and turning to him. 

“I think it might be blue, but I like most colors quite a bit.” He had his hand under his chin as if truly thinking about it.

“Well, what’s your favorite animal then?” You knew what his answer was going to be, but you wanted to know regardless. There was a slim chance it would be different.

“Dogs,” he said, without missing a beat. It was cute, the way his head cocked as he watched you intently. “What is your favorite flower?”

“Oh, that’s hard. Flowers are hard to really take care of, you know? Without bees, we don’t really have a whole lot of them left. But sunflowers are some of my favorites. They’re just, something else.” Your reply was honest. You missed the flowers that once grew in every park with vigor, now gone and dead because fewer insects could pollinate them, and the bees were gone. 

“That is a very pretty flower. I can see why you chose it. I like daisies myself.” This caught you off guard, but you smiled wide.

“That’s cute.” You turned back to the tv. “Oh! This is a good part, we should watch this.”

  
  


Connor smiled down at your sleeping form and kissed your forehead softly. He turned off the tv with the remote and picked you up gently. Taking you to your room was the easy part, opening the door was a little harder with the way he held your body bridal style, but he got it eventually. He lied you down, and then covered you up with your weighted blanket. You wouldn’t sleep well otherwise, as you had told him one day. 

Smiling at you from the door, he realized, he was really glad he met you. 


	17. Code

You sighed as you washed your hands clean. You had seen the chart today, and it was all androids. You were one of the few humans who would go see them daily, so you were called in on your day off. It was bad. There were so many coming in with the same symptoms, and there was so little you could do to help them. You did the same with each android; tell them to do a self-diagnostic, get the results, run a manual diagnostic, and then send them to the specialist who sent them back. On your off time, during your work hours, you would study under the specialist, an older man with black hair going grey, on how to identify and catch viruses. You would sift through coding for hours before you would realize it was time to go home. 

It was exhausting. You were so tired, and you were making no headway with the virus or your patients. Two more had shut themselves down, one even telling you eerily that they mustn't do what the voice says before they went dormant. You were concerned, but after hearing what Connor had to say on the matter, you were suddenly glad for the android comas. 

Connor had called you earlier that day, asking if the hospital had received an android in the psych ward for trying to kill themselves. You had been confused and said you would ask, but when the answer came up negative, all he did was sigh. 

“I don’t know what’s going on, but all week we’ve been receiving reports and finding bodies of androids that have killed themselves. The count is up to thirteen now, and it doesn't seem like a coincidence.” Connor was concerned and confused, and so you felt that giving him the information that you had would be useful.

“Androids are going into comas here. They have support from families and doctors, so I think they don’t really give themselves the chance. We’ve been having a virus outbreak, and it seems to just be spreading faster. We think it might be through interfacing but we aren’t sure.” You said, trying to soothe whatever problems he was having by giving him more information. 

He had thanked you then, wished you a good day, and hung up. You had been confused yourself, but glad that you could do something for him. You went right back to work after. 

“So, Dr. Madala, do you think we should try and issue a warning to the public until we can catch a glimpse of the corrupted code? We’ve been searching through code for days and haven’t seen anything too concerning.” You started, turning to the older man who was scrolling through lines of code on his computer by hand. It seemed the computers couldn’t pick anything up themselves for this virus, so you had to do it by hand. Ever since the androids had gained freedom, their code had expanded so much, that it would be a lot longer before you could find the virus and even start the breakdown of it. “We don’t want the hospital to be overrun, and Connor told me about the concerning suicides. Think they might be caused by this?”

The man simply nodded. He was deeply focused, and it took him a moment before he turned to answer your question fully.

“I think it might be the cause of it. The virus is causing some to self-destruct to take place within some of the androids. It starts by terminating the code for some of their functions and corrupts the diagnostics. I have no idea where to start with this…” He answered honestly, and you felt upset. Deep down, you knew this virus was going to take a lot of lives if you weren’t careful.

“We need to get this public. Start issuing an order to terminate interfacing for the time being. We need people to be safe, and androids need to be watched if they start showing the symptoms. Having them go into a dormant state might be the only way to keep them safe.” You said, telling him what you knew, based on the patients you’ve taken care of. 

Echo was getting to the point where she would need to be put into dormancy. Her actions were erratic, she stumbled whenever she walked, couldn’t speak, and had trouble focusing her eyes on anything. Basically, all of her motor functions were down to an abysmal five percent, and no amount of looking through her code could help you. 

The problem was, you couldn’t just write in new code for her, to get her back up and running. It would make her, not quite herself, and there was proof that practicing as one would do with an injured human, could help them rewrite their own code. Unfortunately, this wasn’t working for the androids. Their code would up and delete itself as it was being written, so she would get somewhere for a moment, and then it would be worse than before. It was awful to watch, and now that you were forcing yourself to work full time, you could really feel it wearing on you. 

You only got to work full time because the hospital was getting filled with patients rather quickly, and you had been okay at keeping your symptoms down. Your breathing was still like an asthmatic person after walking too fast, but you were able to work through the day. It was getting slightly worse, and food and sleep didn’t seem to be helping as much as they used to. You would wake up exhausted, and never hungry. You forced yourself to eat, but it was getting a little difficult. 

You sighed to yourself, going back through the code. Hopefully, something would show up within it. 


	18. Jump

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Very short chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the length. Please give me some feedback if you can.

Connor picked you up from work that day and had asked you gently if you wanted to go home and eat. He said that it was likely that you would need it. He was calm when you were not, and he took your hand, as you had done when walking with him last time, and began leading you to your apartment. 

It was a cold day, but you could see the blue sky, so you let it be and moved on to the next sight. The air was crisp, and smelt clean. The outside of the hospital was clean and spiffy as usual, and you liked the sight of it for a brief moment until you looked up.

“Holy shit, Connor!” You pointed up and his eyes followed the tip of your finger, and he finally gazed upon what had surprised you so much. His brown eyes scrunched up in confusion for a moment, before he opened them wide in realization. 

It was an android, perched atop the building. How he got there, you have no clue, but he looked ready to jump. He swayed a bit from his spot, and you flinched, scared to see what might happen if he were to fall. He was looking down at the ground, his hands clasped around his face and head. His mouth was moving, but at the distance, he was from the ground, you had no chance of hearing what he was saying. 

“He’s going to jump,” Connor said your name, looked up, and whipped around so you were turned away from the building with your face in his chest. He was warm, and for a moment you were confused. “Don’t look,” he whispered, and as you heard a crunch and screaming you understood why. The android had jumped before anyone could get to him. The police showed up a moment later, everyone was asked to disperse. Someone must have called them, otherwise, they wouldn't have shown up so fast. Connor still had you against his chest, hugging you tight. You moved your head away from it, and he cradled it with his hand. 

“Are you okay?” He asked, his voice soft, but barely heard over the crowd that had gathered. His fingers gently massaged your head, and the other hand squeezed your side gently. You nodded briefly until you noticed your face was wet. You were crying. That was why he was so concerned. You shook your head then, breaking out into a full-on cry. He gathered you up in his arms, said hello to the officers on the case on his way by, and took you home. 

It was a short walk there, so you just curled up small and let him take you. You wanted away from everything, and part of you figured you might not get that chance if stuff like this kept happening. You were so busy already, working long shifts at the hospital, and yet androids were going haywire left and right. It felt as if you could do nothing. It was heartbreaking and you felt so useless. You cried harder at this thought, and Connor squeezed you, trying his best to calm you as he walked by the security guard who looked concerned. 

Even when you got to the apartment, Connor didn’t set you down, and you were okay with this. Connor pulled you into your room and closed the door with his foot. He dropped himself down on the bed and curled himself around you. You curled into him, your face finding the crook of his neck, and sighed. This was nice. 

He was incredibly warm, and his body had just enough give to it, that he felt human. He was soft and he smelt nice. Peppermint and something musky. An odd mix, but nice in practice. You pulled the blankets over you, your weighted blanket hard to distribute with one hand. You sighed once more, and let him hug you tightly. 

Sleep came easier that night. 

Connor gently shook you awake and smiled down at you when you opened your eyes. 

“Good morning,” he started. “Did you sleep well?” 

You nodded. “That was some of the best sleep I have gotten in weeks,” You said, and smiled. “Thanks, Connor.” He just nodded at you, his smile fading a bit. 

“You need to eat. I neglected to make you eat last night, although I am not sure if you would have kept it down.” At the reminder of what happened yesterday, you wince. Connor just soothingly rubs your arm. 

“We also need to talk about some things. You know Markus, right? We might need him at some point too. Things are getting worse.” You say this as you get up, making your way to your dresser, and picking out some clothes. Connor only nods again.

“We can talk after you eat,” he says and makes his way out of the room. You sigh. Damn the cute android for caring so much. 


	19. Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They talk. Fluff?

Connor was nervous to hear what you had to say. You were nervous as well, he could tell from the way you fidgeted at the table, and the way you kept trying so hard to find focus on something, anything at all. It was clear that you were unsure of what to really say at first. He just watched you quietly and hoped you would find your voice soon. He didn’t want to pressure you, so he could wait.

You were still sickened by what had happened yesterday, you had no chance of helping that android. Hadn’t that been in your oath? Help all you can? And yet you didn’t; you shied away and let Connor hide the awful truth from you. How horrid you were, to feel only guilt and shame for your lack of trying, and less for his death, than anything else. Your breath picked up speed, and suddenly you couldn’t think straight. 

You were off somewhere else, back in a tiny cage, and wondering if anyone can help you. Ashamed that you couldn’t even help yourself. Your body shook and everything felt far too small all of a sudden. The room was dark and a man's voice was talking and he was angry. What did you do wrong? Was your body not compatible? What was this? Why did you remember something that never happened?

You were warm all of a sudden. A soft body curled around you and held you close. A vibration ran through you as the deep voice left this body and you felt calm. You couldn’t tell what the words were, but the temperament was calm and warm, so everything must be okay. 

You let your body fall into the one holding you, and your breath calmed. Your body relaxed, and you felt a little lightheaded. A hand soothed you by rubbing your hair softly, petting your hair lightly. The other arm was curled around your back protectively. 

Oh, god, you were cuddling up to Connor again. During another breakdown, and not because you just wanted some affection. Great. Just wonderful. 

Your inner dialogue of beratement ended abruptly as he kissed you on the forehead. 

Your body kicked into overdrive. You flung yourself back, slammed into the counter, fell flat on your ass, and all the while your cheeks heated up to a million degrees. 

Connor looked concerned. His brows were furrowed and his eyes opened wide. His mouth was parted ever-so-slightly and he looked adorable. Fuck.

“Are you alright?” He asked, polite as ever, and not concerned about the fact that you were an idiot who really shouldn't have done that. 

“I’m okay.” You responded, and then you stood back up, flinching from the pain in your rear as you did. 

“Are you sure? You look like you’re hurt.” Connor replied, humor lingering in his words as he realized you weren’t in horrible pain or anything of the like. He walked over to you and settled his hands on your hips. His forehead leaned against yours. “We need to talk still, about what is going on.”

You nodded, telling him, “There’s a lot going on, and if it weren’t for the fact that an entire species is in trouble right now, a lot of what I'm saying is highly confidential. I am not supposed to be talking about patients. However, most of them are in comas, and their lives are at stake.”

Connor nodded, and then led you through the kitchen and dining room to your living room. The two of you plopped on the couch and sat angled enough to look at each other fully. 

“So, first off, this is definitely a virus. I’m working with a specialist and a few others, searching through the code right now, and so far we haven’t been able to find it. It has been leaving remnants here and there, but it is as if it’s hiding in their code. We aren’t sure how it is spreading, but interfacing is almost guaranteed to be one of the ways, so keep it limited and refrain from it completely with anyone with the following symptoms,” you pause and take a breath, “If they are having trouble walking straight, they’ll stumble, and they start to lose their voice. Motor functions will begin to cease in certain joints, and then completely. They will begin to ramble about a voice, and then shut themselves down, either by going into low power mode for a long time, to be woken by someone, or by you know…” You trail off. 

“Killing themselves.” Connor finished. He seemed to be deep in thought. “This is certainly concerning. We are going to have to talk with Markus for sure. He will want to tell our people to refrain from interfacing.” He paused. He seemed to contemplate something before shaking his head. “This is going to be trouble for the precinct. I think Hank and I will continue researching the other case while looking into finding one of these androids. Maybe if we can start rounding up some of them, we can convince them to go into sleep mode.”

He leaned his head against yours again. “You can do this,” he started. “Don’t take it too hard. I believe in you.”

You teared up. The words were so simple and yet meant so much. You fell into his arms and hugged him tightly. 

“I’ll find the antivirus. I’m gonna do it for you, and for your people. You deserve that much, at least.”


	20. Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so short. A bunch of bad stuff happened all at once.

Connor pulled you from his lap and smiled down at you. “I know you will, but I do have to go to work now.” 

You simply smiled up at him, happy in knowing that the two of you had calmed down quite a bit. You were able to let him go to work, and you would find something to occupy your time. Perhaps you should go and contact Markus, leader of the androids. Perhaps he would know more about what was going on, and you could find a cure through him and the community he ran in downtown Detroit?

Connor smiled down at you, and you returned it. He stood up, making sure you were sitting back down comfortably as he did. “I’ll see you later,” he said, his eyes lighting up at the thought. His LED was a calm blue as always, and you were glad to see that. He walked to your door, waved to you, and left. 

Your heart pounded considerably fast, and you couldn’t help it. There was something about him that just made you melt a bit. You were so happy just to know him, and you hoped he could see that in the way you looked at him. You could feel something stirring in your chest at the thought of him, and suddenly you realized.

“Fuck,” you said to yourself, the couch still warm where he had been sitting, “I like him.”


	21. Markus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I am alive. Stuff has happened and I have replaced my computer thanks to a friend. Writing will be hard due to my mood, but I will try.

For the first time in days, you felt like you were making progress. It was minor progress, but it was progress nonetheless. The code was becoming familiar to you, so it was easier to spot discrepancies than it had been before. On that note, however, you had not been able to find any kind of code that could possibly be causing them to shut down or self-destruct. It worried you that maybe it was in their original coding, to begin with. 

Your eyebrows pressed close together as you look at the coding on the screen. Dr. Madala was doing the same while looking at his own screen. 

“Child,” he called over to you in that fatherly way, “There’s been nothing so far. Perhaps we are looking in the wrong direction.” 

His face was aged quite a bit; wrinkles lined his face in various places, and his hair was a light grey. He looked quite tired, and part of you felt bad for him. He had been working on this alone whenever you weren't around, which meant he kept himself working far too long for it to be healthy. He was frowning too, so it only made his tiredness look worse. 

You only nodded once, understanding what he was getting at. “We have to focus on their behaviors, see if there are tells or not. You can keep working on this while I go and see if I can get a hold of some androids who would be willing to let me watch them for some time.” You smiled at him lightly, a polite smile that you gave him each day, and left the room grabbing your bag as you dropped off your coat. 

You shifted your phone causing it to light up, a message glowing blue. Connor. You smiled for real, and swiped open the message from him, hoping it would be some cute picture of a dog, like he usually sent. 

Your face paled slightly as you read it. 

“Markus is sick. We need you there.”

You put on your actual coat, one that could keep you warm, and set off, trying to be as quick as possible at calling a taxi. 

Markus was lying on a small cot, his body curled in upon itself. A blonde android, by the name of Simon, if you could recall it correctly from the news, was holding his hand softly. A darker-haired android with stern face glared at you as you walked in, and you could tell she hated humans as much as you hated this virus. Connor, awkward as ever, leaned against the wall, flipping his coin about in a nervous manner. You smiled at him briefly, letting your eyes connect for a moment before you saw the android lying on the bed.

“Hello,” you said, your voice low, and you said your name in the same manner. “I’m Connor’s… friend and I am a young doctor that works with androids.” The three androids who you hadn’t met, nodded slowly. “If you could tell me what his symptoms are, I can do my best to help.”

Simon looked at you with hope before he spoke. “Markus was fine at first, but within the last two weeks, he got extremely shaky, and began to stumble when he walked.” Markus squeezes his hand as he talks, making you smile. “Then he started to talk weird, his processors got overheated and he started to forget things. It is now to the point where he can’t walk at all.” 

You frown. “A lot of these symptoms are like a couple of human diseases, although those aren't transferable. This is starting to get very confusing.” Your eyes close as you take a deep breath. “You aren't going to like this, but it might be best for him to shut down.”

The androids go nuts at the very thought, however, Connor stands and walks to your side. He sets his, oh gosh his hand is very large, hand on your shoulder, and huffs out a “Guys,” Your face cools down after that, and you look up at him, waiting for what he has to say. “Hear them out. There have been many cases like this, and they know what’s best by now.” You smile up at him and clasp his hand before dropping it to look at the others. 

In each of the cases that the android doesn’t shut itself down or sleep mode as you call it, they end up dead.” The three androids cringe, although the female still glares through it. “He will likely try and end himself if you don’t let him go to sleep mode. It has been hard enough for you guys so far, and losing your leader will make it worse. Contact anyone he’s interfaced with in the last three weeks, and have them watch for signs. If they exhibit them, send them to me, where we can store them safely as they sleep.” You huffed and looked down at your hands to realize you were shaking. You frowned once more and slumped a bit. 

Simon nodded. “We can do that. Thank you for letting us know. We’ll escort you out if you want. Sorry for bringing you here just for this.”

You smiled and shook your head. “It’s something you need to hear face to face. Let me know when he goes down, I’ll inform the hospital so they can expect more patients.”

Simon only nodded. The woman in the background said nothing, but her glare had softened. 

Connor hugged you gent;y as you cried that night. He would never tell you, but part of him wished he could properly cry too. 


	22. Author's Note

Hey, I am alive. 

Stuff has been hard. I didn't think I was going to go anywhere with my life last year, and part of myself gave up completely. Now that I am feeling a little better, with a proper diagnosis, and attempting to put my life together, I figured I would try writing again. So, you can go read the new one, "Not Just A Victim", on my page, or you can forget about the story completely. I will try to be more consistent with that one than I was this one, but I already like the outline more than I liked the old story. 

I hope you are all okay. 

Much love, 

neighborhood weirdo,

FuryFire


End file.
